1. Urban Social Stress
IB Geography II

2. Essential Question Are you entitled to live in a safe community?
What does “safety” include?
Is every person entitled to live in a safe community?
Who decides?

3. Introduction
Rapid Urbanization (especially in developing countries) overwhelms the ability of cities to provide adequate services such as:
Housing
Sanitation
Drinking water
Education
Employment

4. Rising Inequalities
Increasing inequalities makes these problems worse leading to urban stress including problems with:
Noise
Pollution
Overcrowded living conditions
Fear of crime

5. Housing
Providing enough quality housing is a huge challenge for urban cities. There are at least 4 aspects of the management of housing:
Quality of housing: water, sanitation, electricity, space
Quantity of housing: having enough units to meet demand
Availability and Affordability of housing
Housing Tenure: ownership or rental

7. Inequalities and Social Problems
Examples of the many social problems found in cities include:
Lack of access to services for underclass
Problems related to crime
Ethnic and religious divisions causing social and economic polarization.
Economic Polarization: The widening gap between the rich and the poor

9. Issues of Urban Crime Types of Criminals/Crime Main Actors
Impacts/Outcomes
Individual Criminals
One-off acts of violent crime and delinquency, usually economically motivated
Murder, assault, gender-based violence, robbery and theft
Organized Criminals
Drug cartels, human trafficking networks, arms smugglers, state security forces (intelligence) and police officers
Targeted killings, kidnaps, extortion, human trafficking and enslavement small arms proliferation
Endemic Community Violence
Urban gangs, vigilante groups, ethnic militias, state security forces and police officers
High rates of gang/police/civilian causalities, recruitment of urban child soldiers, gender-based violence, gang warfare police shootouts

11. The Causes of Urban Violence and Crime
Inequality
Unemployment
Limited Police Presence
Opportunity
Poor Urban Planning
Globalization and Communications Technology

12. Inequality
The growing gap between rich and poor is far more likely to lead to crimes than poverty itself.
Unequal access to employment, education, health and basic infrastructure is the underlying cause of crime.

13. Unemployment
Most research suggests that unemployed youth aged are disproportionately more likely to be perpetrators as well as victims of crime and violence

15. Limited Police Presence
The speed of urbanization increases pressure on the ability of authorities to meet public security and safety demands though adequate policing.
Large cities have lower levels of community cooperation with the police and require more police officers per inhabitant

16. Opportunity
Crime rates are higher in large cities because there is a greater concentration of wealthy potential victims, more opportunities to commit crime, and a more developed second-hand market for stolen goods.
Criminal networks can be persuasive and influential towards certain disadvantaged groups, luring them into criminal gangs.

17. Poor Urban Planning
The design of urban environments may affect the security of citizens
For example, if streets have unlit or hidden areas and layouts with more escape routes, or streets police cars can’t get down, crime is more common.

18. Globalization and Communications Technology
Ease of communication through mobile phones and other devices add to the efficiency of organized crime.

19. The Consequences of Urban Crime
Can generate a culture of fear
Can lead to segregation and social fragmentation
Can lead to the creation of fortified spaces
Can negatively impact economic development
The Latin American region has the highest homicide rate in the world, and widespread fear and insecurity are a fact of daily life.

22. Gated Communities
While violence does occur, anxiety and fear generated by the perception of crime and violence outweighs the actual level of danger.
Mexico City: Fear of crime leads people to restrict their movements and avoid leaving home at night.
Gated Communities are found most in places with high inequality and inadequate public security.

24. Gated Communities Most found in North American cities
New phenomenon in Brazil and South Africa where there are increased socio-economic inequalities.
South Africa: # of private security guards has increased by 150% since the late 1990s.
Often results in segregation across ethnic, racial and religious lines